I read your article in the New York Times about "Civilization's Starter Kit," and I wanted to send you an article I wrote that talks about some of these same ideas but from a political economic perspective.

I am an American lawyer and mediator with an expertise in global conflict prevention and resolution, at UC Berkeley in California.

I am interested in human well-being, and I wrote an article called "Beyond Occupy" with some ideas about how to decentralize wealth - or capital asset ownership. One element of this is for people to manufacture basic goods regionally or locally, in worker-owned businesses. When I read your article about how far removed people have become from how basic things work, I wanted to run my ideas by you.

You can see my article on my blog, theglobalspring.org - it is the second article on the blog.

Congratulations on all your success, I find your work very interesting.

In regards to..."One element of this is for people to manufacture basic goods regionally or locally, in worker-owned businesses." I recommend Dr. Dickson Despommier's book Vertical Farming. He encourages the localizing of farming, assumably to get it out of the hands of corporate ag. De-centralizing is something I wholly agree with and applaud your remarks. My post Malthus' Zombies tags onto this thinking. To decentralize farming and create jobs localized thereon is a first line of defense against over-population. People on top of people don't or won't necessarily need "service" positions. Positions that serve, however, will be not only critical, but perhaps, even wholesome!